What You Find In PIanos

[Paul McCloud]

Hi, List:
    You've heard the story.  The reality of old age forces the elderly owner into a nursing home, and they give up the beloved piano.  The new owner buys it cheap to let the kids play on it, and calls the tuner to "make it play again".  The tuner shows up, and discovers a fabulous treasure inside.  I've heard a story years ago about finding thousands of dollars stashed inside an old upright.  As far as I know, it's a true story.  
    Well, now I've got my story...
    I got a call to tune an old Hallet-Davis spinet this afternoon.  It's in fair shape, a broken key, and needs tuning badly.  The new owner purchased it from an elderly woman, who had moved to Florida to live in a nursing home.  It sold for $100.
    The woman was a kind of do-it-yourselfer, and had investigated the broken key before I arrived.  She showed me the sticker wire, which she pulled out of the piano to show me, with the broken elbow still attached.  We talked about it for a while, and I pointed out the nasty yellow mold which had grown up inside.  I decided to check the rest of the elbows, and crouched down to remove the bottom board.  As I did so, I mentioned in a joking mood, "You never know what you're going to find in the bottom of a piano."  As I tipped the board out, I saw a pile of elegant boxes stacked up in the bottom of the piano.  They appeared to be like jewelry boxes, except for the fact that they were larger, and many were in sleeves for protection.  I showed the lady what I'd found, and we marvelled at what turns out was a collection of coins.  
    There were many proof sets, dating back to 1970, of whatever coins were minted in that year.  There were commemorative coins, each with a certificate of authenticity and purchase price.  I think there were about two dozen boxes, which are pictured in the attached photo.  Well, I'd like to say that it amounted to a king's ransom, but no there was no gold, and the price tags amounted only to a few hundred dollars.  It seems that the old man had stashed the treasure in the bottom of the piano, and told not a soul about it (or the poor widow, suffering from dementia, forgot they were in there).  
    We laughed at the coincidental find, and she promised to return the collection to the woman who sold the piano.  The lady went online to discover what they might be worth, but found that they really weren't worth all that much more than they did 35 years ago.  
    I spent a couple hours tuning the piano, and left after promising to return to replace the elbow next Friday.  (Darn, I wish I had one with me).

    Isn't piano tuning fun?

    Paul McCloud
    San Diego
    
    


Paul McCloud
Service Technician for PianoSD.com
www.pianoservsd.com 
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